Iranian sportsmen invited to hold warm-up camps in US: Official

Tehran, April 25, IRNA – Secretary General of Iran’s National Olympic Committee Ali Kaffashian said in Tehran on Wednesday that his committee has received three letters of invitations from the US National Olympic Committee.

He told IRNA that the US National Olympic Committee has invited three Iranian teams, including weightlifters, cyclists and boatmen to hold warm-up camps in the US.

“The American committee has said that it will provide two-way tickets and pay for the accommodations of the Iranian athletes during their stay in the country,” he added.

Kaffashian said that the agreement on invitation of Iranian and American teams to each other’s countries, holding sport camps and participation in competitions was recently reached at a meeting between the representatives of the national olympic committee of the two countries in Kuwait.

“The American officials have expressed their interest in signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran and expansion of mutual sports relations,” he said.

The Iranian sports official said that their proposal for inking such an MoU was repeated recently.

“Iran’s Physical Education Organization has agreed to dispatch Iranian teams to the American camps and competitions if the Iranian athletes are not fingerprinted while entering the country,” he added.

Concerning the proposed MoU, he said that the proposal is now being examined.He noted that meanwhile, the US is expected to dispatch its wrestling and taekwondo teams to Iran to attend warm-up camps.